Suspension for vehicles



Nov. 10, 1936. cs. M. BARNES El AL 2,060,015

SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLES Filed Jan. 24, 1934 Inventors Gladenn I LEEW-L B Warren Efrestnn @Y M;- W

Patented Nov. 10, 1936 PATENT OFFICE 2,060,015 SUSPENSION For. VEHICLES Gladeon M. Barnes, Hastings, Mich., and Warren E. Preston, Aberdeen, Md.

Application January 24, 1934, Serial No. 708,138

2 Claims. (Cl. 267-57) (Granted underthe act of March 3, 1888, as

g The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a suspension for vehicles.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive wheel mounting which has considerable flexibility without the employ- 10 ment of springs.

Specifically the invention resides in placing a wheel on the outer end of 'a. crank arm which is rigidly secured to a torque shaft disposed transversely of the vehicle body and attached thereto.

15 Movement of the crank arm is permitted by torsional'action of the transverse shaft within its elastic limit.

The invention also includes a novel method of conveniently and compactly arranging the torque go shaft to reduce its overall length.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed,

25 it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of theinvention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed githout departing from the spirit of the inven- 30 A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in right side elevation of a vehicle with the near wheel removed and showing the improved wheel mounting.

35 Fig. 2 is a similar view showing an alternate arrangement.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional. view of the wheel mounting.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional View of the splined i connection between elements of the torque shaft,

and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a modification of the crank arm bearing.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 there is shown a load member 5 such as a vehicle -.body which. is to be mounted on a plurality of mobile supporting units such as wheels, one of the wheels being shown at B. In the illustration the wheel 6 is a steering wheel and is mounted on a spindle I which is ati0 tached through a king pin 8 to a stub axle 9 rigidly secured as by the nut III on the outer or free end of a crank arm H.

The crank arm I I is rotatably mounted on the outer end of a sleeve l2 through an anti-friction bearing l3 and extends either rearwardly or for-- amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) wardly with respect thereto as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The sleeve I2 is disposed transversely of the body 5 and has a flange l4 whereby it is rigidly secured to the body by means of bolts IS. The sleeves l2-l2 of opposite wheels are housed in 5 a tube l6 having a centrally located bearing I! for supporting the adjacent inner ends of the sleeves. The tube IE is formed with a flange I8 on each end whereby it is secured to the body 5 by the bolts I5. 10

A shaft l9, either solid or hollow, is disposed within the sleeve I2 and is connected to the inner portion of the sleeve by splines 20. The outer end of the shaft I9 is formed with a flange 2| which is secured by bolts 22 to the hub of the crank arm I l. The shaft I 9 is preferably peripherally spaced from the sleeve l2 throughout the greater portion of its length by virtue of the bearing through the splines and the antifriction bearing I3. 20

The body 5 carries a pair of spaced stop members 23-23 for limiting movement of the crank arm I l. A resilient block or pad 24 is preferably carried by each stop member 23.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5 the bearing 25 for mounting the crank arm 25 on the sleeve 26 consists of a pair of spaced bushings 2'! and 28 between which is a ring of rubber 29 which is preferably vulcanized to the bushings. The inner bushing 21 is held against a shoulder 30 of 30 the sleeve 26 by means of a nut 3| threaded on 1 the outer end of the sleeve and is held against r0- tation relative to the sleeve.

The outer bushing 28 is held against a shoulder 32 of the crank arm 25 by means of a flange 33 5 formed on a shaft and secured to the crank arm by bolts 35. The bushings 21 and 28 can be i displaced 60 degrees with respect to one another without damaging the rubber ring 29.

Referring to Figs. 1-3 the rigidly connected 4o crank arm H, shaft l9 and sleeve l2 being attached to the body 5 .by means of the bolts l5 support the body and under normal conditions of operation the crank arm does not move angularly relative to the body. The crank arm can only move through torsional action of the shaft and sleeve.

Inasmuch as the body 5 has an appreciable weight the shaft and sleeve are so determined that the normal torsional action due to this weight is about 7. When the wheel 6 of the body 5 encounters an obstruction or irregularity in the road the torsional action continues or increases in order to permit the crank arm II to rotate about its pivot. As an example a crank arm ten inches in length will provide a four inch vertical movement of the Wheel with a torsional action in the shaft and sleeve of about 23.

The amount of twist of the shaft l9 and sleeve I2 is found from the formula:

The stress in the shaft l9 and sleeve 5 is found by solving for S in the formula.

Where S=fiber stress in pounds per square inch. For a hollow sleeve such as I2 the following formula is used:

1( 16 D -By employing a steel of an appropriate elastic limit that is not exceeded by the maximum allowed angle of twist, the shaft and sleeve will always return to their original state.

It will be noted from the first formula that the angle of twist of a shaft is directly proportional to the length of the shaft. By using the shaft l9 alone the mount of twist which it would be possible to obtain would not permit the crank arm to rotate through a sufiicient angle to give satisfactory road performance. The effective length of the shaft I9 is therefore increased by the sleeve I2 and a convenient and compact arrangement is obtained. The total length of the torque member may thus be divided among any number of connected concentric shafts or sleeves.

The outer sleeve or sleeves should have the same resistance to torsion as the inner shaft l9. Assuming d=diameter of shaft l9 D=diameter of outer sleeve l2 d1=inside diameter of outer sleeve l2 19kg) 16 D S From the foregoing it will be seen that a simple and inexpensive wheel mounting is provided for yieldingly supporting a load member.

We claim:

1. A suspension for vehicles embodying a load member, a tube extending transversely of the load member and having its ends secured thereto, a bearing on the interior of the tube, a sleeve within the tube with its inner end supported in the bearing and secured adjacent its outer end to the load member, a shaft within the sleeve with its inner end splined to the inner end of the sleeve, and a crank arm journaled on the sleeve and secured to the outer end of the shaft.

2. A suspension for vehicles embodying a load member, a tube extending transversely of the load member and having its ends secured thereto, a bearing on the interior of the tube, a sleeve within the tube with its inner end supported in the bearing and secured adjacent its outer end to the load member, said sleeve extending laterally beyond the load member, a crank arm jour- 1r d s naled on the extending end of the sleeve, a shaft within the sleeve, the inner end of the shaft splined to the inner end of the sleeve, and a flange on the outer end of the shaft and secured to the crank arm.

GLADEON M. BARNES. WARREN E. PRESTON. 

